School board races being backed by cash

Most campaign dollars are going to business-backed challengers

By Jamon SmithStaff Writer | The Tuscaloosa News

Published: Sunday, August 18, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, August 17, 2013 at 11:21 p.m.

TUSCALOOSA | By far, more money has been raised for candidates in the 2013 Tuscaloosa City Board of Education election than any other in the city school board's history. And businesses, in the form of business-funded PACs and direct business contributions, have been responsible for most of the money flowing into the campaign coffers of the non-incumbents.

It's no secret that the local business community has shown an increased interest in the city school board.

In June, the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama held its first Education Summit, where it unveiled the results of a research study that examined the academic performances of the Tuscaloosa city and county school systems.

Chamber president Jim Page said in an interview before the summit that the chamber believes it's vital to have strong leaders on city and county school boards who have business experience and understand the importance of education to the business community.

“We want to have effective leaders who have vision and the courage to make the strong decisions,” Page said in June. “We have excellent teachers and we are very supportive of Dr. (Paul) McKendrick and the leadership he's brought to the system, but from a school board perspective, we need some long-term visionaries and someone with the courage to make strong decisions. We have enough resources in the city where our performance should be second to none.”

With the business backgrounds of all the non-incumbent school board candidates, and the record-breaking amount of money that's been contributed to their campaigns, it appears that the business community has taken an active role in bringing change to the city school board.

According to campaign finance reports filed by the candidates as of Aug. 9, more than $181,000 has been contributed to the campaigns of the 13 candidates in the 2013 race, which is more than the total funds raised in the three previous school board elections combined.

In the 2001 race, which was the first city school board election held after the Tuscaloosa City Council stopped appointing the board, about $48,000 was raised by the 15 candidates.

About $25,000 was raised by the 12 candidates in the 2005 school board race, and in 2009, the 12 candidates raised about $48,000.

Expenditures by candidates in the 2013 race have also topped previous school board campaign totals.

More than $104,000 combined has been spent by all candidates in 2013 race as of Aug. 9.

In 2001, candidates spent about $46,000.

About $19,000 was spent in 2005, and about $40,000 was spent in 2009.

The five incumbents facing challengers in the 2013 race — Harry Lee of District 5, Marvin Lucas of District 6, James Minyard of District 1, Erskine Simmons of District 7 and Kelly Horwitz of District 4 — have raised a combined total of about $14,000, which is 8 percent of the more than $167,000 that the non-incumbents have raised combined.

Individually, every non-incumbent — except for board chair candidate Denise Hills — has raised more money than all the incumbents combined.

The non-incumbents have also far outspent the incumbents.

As of Aug. 9, the incumbents have spent a combined total of about $5,000 on their campaigns, while non-incumbents have spent more than $99,000.

Businesses and PACs

PACs have been responsible for a great deal of the money flowing into the non-incumbents' campaigns.

About $96,800 has been contributed to the non-incumbents from PACs, comprising about 58 percent of their combined total contributions.

As of Aug. 9, Hills was the only non-incumbent who hadn't received PAC money.

None of the incumbents have received money from PACs.

District 4 challenger Cason Kirby, District 1 challenger Earnestine Young, District 7 challenger Renwick Jones, District 5 challenger Joe Gattozzi and District 6 challenger John Lollar have each received more than 86 percent of their campaign contributions from PACs.

Board chair candidate Lee Garrison has received about 26 percent of his campaign contributions from PACs and Norman Crow, who is running unopposed in District 3, has received about 6 percent of his contributions from PACs.

The five PACs that have contributed to the non-incumbents' campaigns so far are the Educate Tuscaloosa PAC, NUCOR PAC, Pride PAC II, T-Town PAC II and the Alabama Builders PAC.

NUCOR PAC, created in 2002 by the Nucor Corp., has contributed $11,000 to the non-

incumbents with the exception of Hills. Each challenger received $1,000 from the NUCOR PAC except Garrison, who received $5,000.

The Alabama Builders PAC, run by Wayne Bonner, chair of the Von Braun Center board, contributed $2,000 to Garrison.

The T-Town PAC II, created in 2010 and chaired by local certified public accountant Michael Echols, contributed $8,000 to Garrison and $1,000 to Kirby.

The Pride PAC II, created in 2010 and also chaired by Echols, contributed $3,000 to the challengers. The contribution was evenly distributed to Garrison, Kirby and Gattozzi in $1,000 sums.

The Educate Tuscaloosa PAC, created in April and chaired by Echols, has by far been the largest contributor to the challengers' campaigns.

From April to Aug. 9, the PAC has raised about $108,250.

Its contributions have come from 23 businesses, most of them construction companies, real estate companies, civil engineering firms, architect firms, accounting firms and law firms. The PAC's largest single business contribution was $6,000 from McAbee Construction Inc.

The rest of the PAC's money has come from individuals, many of them local business owners.

The PAC has spent about $101,700 since April. Its largest single expenditure was $21,784 paid to the Matrix LLC, a

Montgomery-based political lobbying and consulting group formed by Tuscaloosa resident Joseph Perkins.

All challengers, except for Hills and Garrison, have paid the Matrix LLC between $7,770 and $9,525 from their campaign funds for political consulting and polling.

“(The Matrix is) a group out of Montgomery, and I wanted to work with them because they have local connections to Tuscaloosa,” said Kirby, who paid the Matrix $8,696.08 in July. “And they do great work. They've helped us out with a few marketing items and that's why I decided to go with them.”

Most of the money raised by the Educate Tuscaloosa PAC — $71,800 — has been given to challengers Kirby, Gattozzi, Lollar, Jones and Young.

As of Aug. 9, Kirby, Lollar and Jones each received $14,200 from Educate Tuscaloosa. Young received $14,000 from the PAC and Gattozzi received $15,200.

The Tuscaloosa United for a Better Education PAC was also created this year by Echols but hasn't made any contributions to the candidates, though it's raised $5,500 since May from local businesses CMG Consulting Group Inc. and John Plott Co. Inc.

Another PAC, Students for Good Government, was also created this election cycle by Matthew Calderone, the District 4 Tuscaloosa City Council candidate-elect. Calderone is the PAC's chairman, and District 4 school board challenger Kirby is the PAC's treasurer. Calderone and Kirby are former SGA presidents at the University of Alabama. So far, the PAC hasn't raised any money or contributed to any campaigns.

Echols, the treasurer of Gov. Robert Bentley's 2014 re-election campaign, the treasurer of Garrison's campaign and the chairman of many of the PACs involved in the school board race, said PACs are created for a cause.

In this year's school board race, he said PACs are playing a significant role because many local businesses want to see a change on the school board.

“(The PACs he's chairing are) funded by local businesses who have an interest in our school system,” Echols said. “Once the money comes in (to PACs), it's up to the chairman to decide where the money goes.

“The 71 percent graduation rate that the current incumbents are touting as an improvement is just not acceptable,” he said. “This is an economic development issue. We cannot attract businesses to Tuscaloosa when the people trying to come here won't put their children in the city school system. There is a perception that a change needs to be made on the school board level. Seventy-one percent is not good enough.”

In addition to making PAC contributions, businesses have also contributed to the non-

incumbents' campaigns directly.

More than $21,000 has been directly contributed to the non-incumbents' campaigns from businesses, which makes up 13 percent of the non-incumbents combined total contributions.

Incumbents have received about $1,400 directly from businesses, which is 10 percent of their combined contributions.

Lee, Lucas and Simmons are the only incumbents to receive business contributions — Ward Scott Architecture Inc. contributed $250 to all three as well as $500 to Garrison — while the campaigns of incumbents Horwitz and Minyard have been financed by individuals and their own money. Simmons' and Hills' campaigns have also been mostly financed with money out of their own pockets.

All of the challengers — except for Kirby — have received direct contributions to their campaigns from businesses, but no challenger more so than Garrison.

As of Aug. 9, Garrison had received contributions from 27 businesses which have given him about $16,400. His largest business contribution came from Tuscom, a computer repair business, for $3,016.01. Other notable contributors to Garrison's campaign were University of Alabama President Judith Bonner and UA System Chancellor Robert Witt, who each gave him $500.

<p>TUSCALOOSA | By far, more money has been raised for candidates in the 2013 Tuscaloosa City Board of Education election than any other in the city school board's history. And businesses, in the form of business-funded PACs and direct business contributions, have been responsible for most of the money flowing into the campaign coffers of the non-incumbents.</p><p>It's no secret that the local business community has shown an increased interest in the city school board.</p><p>In June, the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama held its first Education Summit, where it unveiled the results of a research study that examined the academic performances of the Tuscaloosa city and county school systems.</p><p>Chamber president Jim Page said in an interview before the summit that the chamber believes it's vital to have strong leaders on city and county school boards who have business experience and understand the importance of education to the business community.</p><p>“We want to have effective leaders who have vision and the courage to make the strong decisions,” Page said in June. “We have excellent teachers and we are very supportive of Dr. (Paul) McKendrick and the leadership he's brought to the system, but from a school board perspective, we need some long-term visionaries and someone with the courage to make strong decisions. We have enough resources in the city where our performance should be second to none.”</p><p>With the business backgrounds of all the non-incumbent school board candidates, and the record-breaking amount of money that's been contributed to their campaigns, it appears that the business community has taken an active role in bringing change to the city school board.</p><p>According to campaign finance reports filed by the candidates as of Aug. 9, more than $181,000 has been contributed to the campaigns of the 13 candidates in the 2013 race, which is more than the total funds raised in the three previous school board elections combined.</p><p>In the 2001 race, which was the first city school board election held after the Tuscaloosa City Council stopped appointing the board, about $48,000 was raised by the 15 candidates.</p><p>About $25,000 was raised by the 12 candidates in the 2005 school board race, and in 2009, the 12 candidates raised about $48,000.</p><p>Expenditures by candidates in the 2013 race have also topped previous school board campaign totals.</p><p>More than $104,000 combined has been spent by all candidates in 2013 race as of Aug. 9.</p><p>In 2001, candidates spent about $46,000.</p><p>About $19,000 was spent in 2005, and about $40,000 was spent in 2009.</p><p>The five incumbents facing challengers in the 2013 race — Harry Lee of District 5, Marvin Lucas of District 6, James Minyard of District 1, Erskine Simmons of District 7 and Kelly Horwitz of District 4 — have raised a combined total of about $14,000, which is 8 percent of the more than $167,000 that the non-incumbents have raised combined.</p><p>Individually, every non-incumbent — except for board chair candidate Denise Hills — has raised more money than all the incumbents combined.</p><p>The non-incumbents have also far outspent the incumbents.</p><p>As of Aug. 9, the incumbents have spent a combined total of about $5,000 on their campaigns, while non-incumbents have spent more than $99,000.</p><h3>Businesses and PACs</h3>
<p>PACs have been responsible for a great deal of the money flowing into the non-incumbents' campaigns.</p><p>About $96,800 has been contributed to the non-incumbents from PACs, comprising about 58 percent of their combined total contributions.</p><p>As of Aug. 9, Hills was the only non-incumbent who hadn't received PAC money.</p><p>None of the incumbents have received money from PACs.</p><p>District 4 challenger Cason Kirby, District 1 challenger Earnestine Young, District 7 challenger Renwick Jones, District 5 challenger Joe Gattozzi and District 6 challenger John Lollar have each received more than 86 percent of their campaign contributions from PACs.</p><p>Board chair candidate Lee Garrison has received about 26 percent of his campaign contributions from PACs and Norman Crow, who is running unopposed in District 3, has received about 6 percent of his contributions from PACs.</p><p>The five PACs that have contributed to the non-incumbents' campaigns so far are the Educate Tuscaloosa PAC, NUCOR PAC, Pride PAC II, T-Town PAC II and the Alabama Builders PAC.</p><p>NUCOR PAC, created in 2002 by the Nucor Corp., has contributed $11,000 to the non-</p><p>incumbents with the exception of Hills. Each challenger received $1,000 from the NUCOR PAC except Garrison, who received $5,000.</p><p>The Alabama Builders PAC, run by Wayne Bonner, chair of the Von Braun Center board, contributed $2,000 to Garrison.</p><p>The T-Town PAC II, created in 2010 and chaired by local certified public accountant Michael Echols, contributed $8,000 to Garrison and $1,000 to Kirby.</p><p>The Pride PAC II, created in 2010 and also chaired by Echols, contributed $3,000 to the challengers. The contribution was evenly distributed to Garrison, Kirby and Gattozzi in $1,000 sums.</p><p>The Educate Tuscaloosa PAC, created in April and chaired by Echols, has by far been the largest contributor to the challengers' campaigns.</p><p>From April to Aug. 9, the PAC has raised about $108,250.</p><p>Its contributions have come from 23 businesses, most of them construction companies, real estate companies, civil engineering firms, architect firms, accounting firms and law firms. The PAC's largest single business contribution was $6,000 from McAbee Construction Inc.</p><p>The rest of the PAC's money has come from individuals, many of them local business owners.</p><p>The PAC has spent about $101,700 since April. Its largest single expenditure was $21,784 paid to the Matrix LLC, a </p><p>Montgomery-based political lobbying and consulting group formed by Tuscaloosa resident Joseph Perkins.</p><p>All challengers, except for Hills and Garrison, have paid the Matrix LLC between $7,770 and $9,525 from their campaign funds for political consulting and polling.</p><p>“(The Matrix is) a group out of Montgomery, and I wanted to work with them because they have local connections to Tuscaloosa,” said Kirby, who paid the Matrix $8,696.08 in July. “And they do great work. They've helped us out with a few marketing items and that's why I decided to go with them.”</p><p>Most of the money raised by the Educate Tuscaloosa PAC — $71,800 — has been given to challengers Kirby, Gattozzi, Lollar, Jones and Young.</p><p>As of Aug. 9, Kirby, Lollar and Jones each received $14,200 from Educate Tuscaloosa. Young received $14,000 from the PAC and Gattozzi received $15,200.</p><p>The Tuscaloosa United for a Better Education PAC was also created this year by Echols but hasn't made any contributions to the candidates, though it's raised $5,500 since May from local businesses CMG Consulting Group Inc. and John Plott Co. Inc.</p><p>Another PAC, Students for Good Government, was also created this election cycle by Matthew Calderone, the District 4 Tuscaloosa City Council candidate-elect. Calderone is the PAC's chairman, and District 4 school board challenger Kirby is the PAC's treasurer. Calderone and Kirby are former SGA presidents at the University of Alabama. So far, the PAC hasn't raised any money or contributed to any campaigns.</p><p>Echols, the treasurer of Gov. Robert Bentley's 2014 re-election campaign, the treasurer of Garrison's campaign and the chairman of many of the PACs involved in the school board race, said PACs are created for a cause.</p><p>In this year's school board race, he said PACs are playing a significant role because many local businesses want to see a change on the school board.</p><p>“(The PACs he's chairing are) funded by local businesses who have an interest in our school system,” Echols said. “Once the money comes in (to PACs), it's up to the chairman to decide where the money goes.</p><p>“The 71 percent graduation rate that the current incumbents are touting as an improvement is just not acceptable,” he said. “This is an economic development issue. We cannot attract businesses to Tuscaloosa when the people trying to come here won't put their children in the city school system. There is a perception that a change needs to be made on the school board level. Seventy-one percent is not good enough.”</p><p>In addition to making PAC contributions, businesses have also contributed to the non-</p><p>incumbents' campaigns directly.</p><p>More than $21,000 has been directly contributed to the non-incumbents' campaigns from businesses, which makes up 13 percent of the non-incumbents combined total contributions.</p><p>Incumbents have received about $1,400 directly from businesses, which is 10 percent of their combined contributions.</p><p>Lee, Lucas and Simmons are the only incumbents to receive business contributions — Ward Scott Architecture Inc. contributed $250 to all three as well as $500 to Garrison — while the campaigns of incumbents Horwitz and Minyard have been financed by individuals and their own money. Simmons' and Hills' campaigns have also been mostly financed with money out of their own pockets.</p><p>All of the challengers — except for Kirby — have received direct contributions to their campaigns from businesses, but no challenger more so than Garrison.</p><p>As of Aug. 9, Garrison had received contributions from 27 businesses which have given him about $16,400. His largest business contribution came from Tuscom, a computer repair business, for $3,016.01. Other notable contributors to Garrison's campaign were University of Alabama President Judith Bonner and UA System Chancellor Robert Witt, who each gave him $500.</p><p>Reach Jamon Smith at jamon.smith@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.</p>